Making progress on our projects...

Stainless projects - Sergio and his wife, Guadalupe, have been very busy and have done a wonderful job. They have been building the stainless rails around the stern, attaching our solar panels, and building our boarding ladder. It is truly amazing to watch experts at work. I am very impressed by the quality of their work, plus how timely they have been. We can't keep up with them! Sergio's email is: steel_man_381@hotmail.com.

Organizing and re- organizing - as you can tell - it is impossible. Doug was so kind to leave me a small place to work on Christmas cards while he destroyed the rest of the boat. An interesting note about Christmas cards in Mexico - you can't buy packaged cards or find envelopes for cards - who knew. So, I was forced to be creative - they turned out okay. To get them mailed, our friend, Glenn, volunteered to haul them on the plane back to the states. They will be postmarked from Bellingham, Washington. Interesting, huh? Thanks, Glenn!


We love these new folding bikes. Thanks, Michael for the recommendation and for setting them up! We have been all over La Paz. The bread store (yummy) is our favorite stop, but we also enjoy the hardware stores, the chandlery's, and of course, the food and drink joints! The tricky part is getting used to the road rules. Alto (Stop) appears to be just a guideline!

Electric Windlass - Doug is drilling holes, running wire, and mounting our new electric windlass (electric winch to lift the anchor). It will be nice when Doug doesn't have to pull up 135 feet of chain (plus the anchor) when we leave an anchorage - talk about manual labor! He is strong, but I don't want him hurting himself. Then I might have to get involved!

Progress!

Happenings!

Besides working on our projects, we have been having some fun.

Steve and Ana held a great happy hour at Casa Ana (their beautiful home) and introduced us to lots of wonderful folks. We learned about golf marshalls, Trader Joes, Canadian politics, writer woes, and much more - it is a very interesting group that has migrated here. Besides the wonderful company, we had lots of great food and drink. Good times were had by all!

The crews from Rainshadow, Sea Horse, and Vinsang arrived in La Paz this week and we had to get together. We had lots of fun catching up and cruising the Malecon. It is great having them around! Poor Doug was trying to watch the boring Steelers game and we distracted him. Who knew they were going to come back in the last two minutes to win!

Rainshadow invited us out to Marina Palmira last night for a happy hour and Tequila tasting. We met some new folks, plus got to see some folks from the HaHa. We had a great time, but were surprised to find out that we aren't Tequila experts. Doug was crushed to find out he picked Jose Cuervo as #1. I did much better - of course!

Tomorrow, the girls have been invited to the monthly "Ladies Luncheon". This should be very interesting. I hope they don't expect us to dress up! Plus, there is a creative tortilla folding contest at the Club. We have no idea what to expect, but we know the Totem clan will be there, so we are going!

Good Bye Crit!

Crit flew back to the California today. We are really going to miss her. She was a wonderful crew mate, plus a good friend to hang out with. The trip south would have been much more difficult with out Crit's sailing skills, cooking talents, and sense of humor. We appreciated all!

Come back and join us again, Crit!

Todos Santos

Steve and Ana took us on a road trip to Todos Santos, which is on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula. It was about 50 miles, but takes over 1 1/2 hours to get there. Well worth the drive - of course Steve had to do all of the driving!

What a wonderful place to shop and tour around. It is famous for being the home of the Hotel California, which is supposed to be from the Eagles song. It was a really cool place, but definitely out of our budget range! Lots of galleries and expensive places to eat and drink, but we did find a few good values. As you can see, we can easily be suckered in by a simple sign.

We splurged and drove out to Cerritos beach for dinner. It is a beautiful beach where the surfers hang out - some pretty good waves. Besides watching the crazy surfers, we saw whales breaching and spouting - wonderful dinner entertainment!

Phil and Danette - you would love this place!

PS: We were looking at old photos of family and friends tonight and I got choked up - sure miss everyone!

Settling in...

Happy hours, Subasta, and wondering along the Malecon - there are lots of Americans, Canadians, etc. hanging around the marina and they are a very social and organized group. In the short time that we have been here, we have been invited out for Thanksgiving, Happy Hours, plus thoroughly enjoyed Subasta. The local cruising club, Club Cruceros, organizes lots of charity events - like Subasta - which is an auction to benefit the local needy children. Plus, every morning they get on the radio "net" to talk about weather, emergencies, trades, activities, etc. - very entertaining and helpful.The Malecon is the walk way along the beach. It is beautifully adorned with statues, shopping, and lots of bars and restaurants. My favorite statue (shown here) is the old man, the sea, and his paper boat.

Scene of the crime - Tequila's. We decided that we Gringos can't handle the Mexican margaritas. We look pretty good here, but we don't last long!

Wonderful sunsets - almost every evening there has been a beautiful sunset. They remind me of the family pictures from K-Mart - oh my!

Doug's Spanish lesson - Ana was teaching Doug to say that his wife was more beautiful than yours (of course), plus that he is a well-made @#$@hole. Pretty cute! As you can tell, he needs to practice more - without the beer and margaritas! Yes, that is me cracking up in the background.

Happy Thanksgiving from La Paz!

Yeah, we finally made it to La Paz. We had a little trouble leaving Muertos. It was too pretty and we were having such a great time - thanks to the crews of Rainshadow, Vindsang, and Sea Horse! They kept us entertained with potlucks, games, live music, etc. What a hoot!

We are at the Marina de La Paz until January 1. We are supposed to be focusing on boat projects that didn't get done before leaving Alameda - wish us luck!

Steve and Ana are here and have opened up there beautiful home to us - - it is great and we are really enjoying their hospitality.

We have been invited to spend Thanksgiving with some of Ana and Steve's friends and are really looking forward to the excursion and the chance to meet a bunch of the local residents. We got off easy - we just have to bring wine!

Hope you all enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving feast!

Bahia De Los Muertos (dead) or Bahia de Suenos (dreams)

This is another wonderful place, but it is having an identity crisis. Muertos is named after the dead-man mooring system they used during the silver mining times. Now, they are trying to promote the place, but didn't think Bay of the Dead would attract the tourists. We will see if Bay of the Dreams does better. We like it just like it is.

Ana and Steve (best friends from Alameda) drove up from La Paz to see us two days in a row. They must have missed us - ha! It was great to see them, plus they took us to town (10 miles away) for provisioning. Good thing - we were out of everything.

As you can see, the sailboaters are great at entertaining ourselves - besides drinking. The macho men were fun to watch tossing their Bocchi balls. Of course, one almost hit Doug in the head, but that is a whole 'nother story.

Alas, our crew, Crit, jumped ship today and headed to La Paz with Ana and Steve. We are going to miss her - she has been a wonderful addition to the adventure. Hopefully, Crit will bring her sailboat, JASDIP (Just Another Shitty Day In Paradise), south next year and catch up with us.

Tomorrow, we are leaving very early for La Paz. There is a front moving in, so we want to get there ahead of the bad weather to make sure we don't miss the Thanksgiving festivities. Don't want to miss a holiday with friends!